Rangely VFW to revive Memorial Day tradition

RANGELY I A Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW) post characterized by new membership and increased involvement has spurred the return of a Memorial Day tradition.

On Friday afternoon, Rangely VFW Post No. 5261 members will carry on their long-time practice of placing flags on the graves of veterans at the Rangely Cemetery.
Soon after dawn on Monday morning, they will raise the cemetery’s flag and return it to half-mast until noon when, in keeping with tradition, the flag will return to full staff.
The same will happen Monday morning with flags at the Hefley Park Veterans Memorial, but so will an event returning after a hiatus of nearly two decades.
At 8 a.m. on Memorial Day, the community is invited to join the VFW for a brief service at the Veterans’ Memorial to remember those who have served in some branch of the military, in peacetime or in war, who have now passed away.
During the service, VFW members will read a selection and lay a wreath at the memorial.
“We haven’t done that for a number of years, but we’ve reorganized and gotten going again, and it’s something we plan to do in the future,” said Rangely VFW Post Cmdr. John “Hoot” Gibson.
Since the community dedication of the Hefley Park Memorial on Veterans Day last November, Post No. 5261’s membership has grown by more than 60 percent, Gibson said. Many of the new members are younger vets.
Mike Gillard, a former Army platoon sergeant who completed three tours of duty in Iraq and has been an at-large member of the VFW since 2006, joined Rangely’s post two years ago. Next month, he will become its senior vice commander.
“To me, placing a wreath and raising the flag is so simple, yet so symbolic of the commitment we as veterans have made to one another: to always be there for one another and our families and communities – especially to those who gave the ultimate sacrifice for each of us,” Gillard said.
“Memorial Day is a day of reflection for me, a day to thank God for sparing me and thank him for selecting others who came before me and those who I had the honor and privilege to serve with.
“It’s a reminder that our freedoms are not free,” Gillard added. “Someone, somewhere is serving and providing that blanket of protection so we can enjoy our families and friends here at home.”

RBC | Memorial Day is considered the unofficial kick-off to summer vacation for a lot of people, a three-day weekend for others, and a good reason to enjoy a barbecue and time with friends and family […]

This website uses cookies so that we can provide you with the best user experience possible. Cookie information is stored in your browser and performs functions such as recognizing you when you return to our website and helping our team to understand which sections of the website you find most interesting and useful.

You can adjust all of your cookie settings by navigating the tabs on the left hand side.

Strictly Necessary Cookies

Strictly Necessary Cookie should be enabled at all times so that we can save your preferences for cookie settings.

disable

If you disable this cookie, we will not be able to save your preferences. This means that every time you visit this website you will need to enable or disable cookies again.

3rd Party Cookies

This website uses Google Analytics to collect anonymous information such as the number of visitors to the site, and the most popular pages.

Keeping this cookie enabled helps us to improve our website.

disable

Please enable Strictly Necessary Cookies first so that we can save your preferences!

Additional Cookies

This website uses the following additional cookies:

Google Adsense

Coupons.com

Facebook

disable

Please enable Strictly Necessary Cookies first so that we can save your preferences!